The Ylissian War
by redmonkey435
Summary: When darkness falls upon the continents and the world must be protected, the one destined to destroy the lands will defy his fate. With the help of allies and friends, Aindrias will set out across the land and face the wickedness that plagues it. However, how long can one look into the abyss without it looking back and seducing you?
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

To be frank in this foreword, I have no good reason to write this piece of fanfiction. I'm ages behind on my other two stories, I don't have any real motivation to keep me writing this, and it's been ages since I last played Awakening. However, I aim to endeavor through the mental blocks that keep me from writing and to at least give this tale a chance.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fire Emblem series nor do I intend to use this story for profit of either material or currency. I also do not own the Harry Potter franchise nor do I intend to use the material I borrow for a time in the beginning of this story to obtain profit.

P.S. I most definitely do not want to obtain the worthless paper currency. Backed by only a quickly depleting resource and a certain nation's military 'prowess' that is quickly being caught up to by it's two biggest rivals, all paper currency is worthless in my eyes.

* * *

(English Ministry of Magic, London, England, United Kingdom, October 13th, 1997)

Charms have never been my strong point in the arts of combat. I can swing a sword quite well and bring forth downpours of water with accompanying roars of thunders onto my foes, but in the heat of a fight, I cannot bring myself to concentrate hard enough to levitate a large rock to hurl at the enemy. It's not like I've attempted to do so as my mother has kept me in this foreign world since I was first given life, but we had both come to the solid conclusion that I should never rely on my charms skills.

But now, when we have come under attack by these 'Death Eaters', I quickly began to wish that I had prepared myself for calmly using combat-based charms. The rock hurling skill would have come in handy for stemming the tide of these magi forces while dear Mother prepared the portal through the Outrealm and to the world of my birth. As more adversaries began to pour through the doors into the amphitheater, another whip of lashing flames streamed from my hand and burned through the line of mages in a wide arc in front of me. Some of them managed to avoid being set aflame and were firing several dark curses from behind the stone benches, giving me reason to curse at my misfortune.

Concentrating as best as I could, I began moving several of the benches in a semicircle around my guardian and me. Ducking out of the path of a cutting spell, I withdrew my wand from my pocket. I normally avoided using it as it lacked the power that using a tome or the raw energy that using only your body gave you. However, making use of the small holes left in my makeshift barrier, I allowed Mother a little more time to prepare while I moved around the inside of the wall, taking shots at any poor sap who decided to charge at me or try to crawl under the seats.

"Mother, how much more?" I barked, praying that she was almost done with the drawing of runes. While I had put up a valiant effort to hold off the enemy, I was beginning to feel my magical core begin to weaken as each of the spells had to fly ever faster from my wand to halt the enemy's surge. Sweat had begun to pour from my body as the strain of the battle began to take it's effect.

My mother thankfully yelled back to me, "It's ready to be activated, Aindrias!" Taking my side at the man made border, Mother raised her hand and showed why she was one of the greatest sages from the home realm. Bolts of jet blue lighting came to life from her hand and began to form into a electrical storm near the ceiling. Blinded by the sudden illumination, the Death Eaters nary a chance as the bolts cracked and flew at them, incinerating them where they stood. At the same time, I crossed over the barrier and quickly made my way to the top of the amphitheater with my eyes covered. As the storm began to meet the end of it's roaring rampage, I uncovered my eyes and ran for the door, hopping over or cutting down any foe with my sword. Finally reaching the door, I slammed it shut and reinforced it with a few minor wards to the already impressive defenses on it, making sure no more combatants could enter.

The storm having now died, I looked upon the hall and gazed at the utter carnage my mother had brought upon the enemy. A dozen or so new charred corpses laid on the ground, the stench of burnt skin and muscles rising from them and making my stomach feel uneasy. I doubt I would become comfortable with the smell for many more battles.

Joining my mother again, I noted the look on her face as she had shut her eyes and furrowed her brow in concentration of igniting the connection. My mother had never explained in great detail how one who meant to open an Outrealm portal would go about it. From what little subtext I had gleamed from her during our many discussions and lessons, it took the power of an elder sage who had practiced for many years in preparation for the day that they opened said pathway. However, she never told me of what the side effects of undergoing the igniting were, so now, I watched in disbelief and shock as a flash of light began dancing between the the arch's legs. Soon, though, the real spectacle began to take place as the light soon burst into a vortex of bright, oceanic blue energy and the air began to become saturated with magical energy.

"Mother, is this... the power an Outrealm gate holds? It's simply overflowing and magnificent!" I was in awe, never before seeing such a thing in the world. Its power felt as if it outweighed the world's entire Floo Network a thousand folds, and yet this was supposedly a minor portal that could only take you to a relatively adjacent realm in the universe. The gods had truly crafted these gate with their powers, as the energy flowing from it quickly refilled my own reserves and further boosted my energy, making me feel as if I could fight off the entirety of the ruling party's military. This would certainly help in my future endeavors and battles if I could discover a way to harness the raw energy.

"'Tis the power of the greater gods, Son. Not even Naga or Grima are able to create this for the elder gods, who came before the lesser gods, were the ones who brought them into existence," Mother sounded tired, though with the act that she had performed just now, I would have been amazed if she hadn't been. "Now you must go and face the coming fate of our home." That's when I realized something. My mother had prepared everything I would need for this trip and had placed it into the satchel that I carried under my hooded cloak. Food, many magically expanded and weightless bags of gold bars, clothing, a multitude of swords and magical tomes for when it would become impossible to use my wand and difficult for a time to use only my hands as I adjusted to the magical resonance of our home again, hundreds of books on strategy and the occasional ones on the subject poetry and fantasy, all stuffed into various pockets with the larger on the inside bag of traveling. However, there seemed to have been only wardrobes suited for me shoved into the bag. None of the books my mother loved dearly and I most likely detested, nor any of the powerful tomes that she could utilize but I couldn't. Only books containing the works of famous strategists of both realms, the writings of men like Poe, Pullman, and Tolkein, and simple Fire and Thunder tomes filled the expansive library compartment.

"Mother, are you not coming with me?" My mother simply smiled, not of joy but of great sorrow. My fears needed no further confirmation, however, she decided to explain herself as the sounds of shouts and spells came from the entrance to the hall.

"Son, our enemies... your father knows what I look like. If I were to come with you, then they would detect my presence and seek you out. You're still not ready to face them, so we can not risk it."

"Could we not disguise you? You said that the potions they make in this world are just the same as our home's, only with different names, so why couldn't we just use Polyjuice?"

"Son, I've thought of all of that and none of it would work. The Polyjuice has such a limited time range, it would look suspicious trying to pluck hairs from the women there, and charms that alter one's appearance leave a large magical signature. A Plegian mage would discover us in a heartbeat," Her points made valid sense, though I still didn't care for the idea of leaving her here. However, what she said next broke any outlook of mine of her coming with me, "Plus, even if I could hide myself away, the trip... the trip itself would kill me."

Those words caused my mind to freeze for a moment, processing what she had just said. While doing so, my legs gave way apparently as Mother caught me in a hug. I could faintly make out the sound of her crying as she held me, whispering quiet apologizes for not telling me before, I-love-yous that needed to be spoken, and short prayers for Naga to watch over me. The simple thought that Mother would die if she tried to come and aid me simply dominated all thought power.

Hugging my mother back and pulling myself up to where I was again taller than her, I realized that I needed to reassure her, "Mother, I understand why you kept this from me. Remember that I love you no matter what, and I'll make Grima pay for what his crimes."

Her crying quickly became quiet sobs, as we exchanged final goodbyes. A kiss on the each other's cheek and I turned away, walking towards the portal as the entrance door began to give way to the spells. Taking a short pause before walking through, I turn back for one final glance at her. Her eyes and cheeks red now from the crying, she looked many years older now, the portal opening having taken a much greater toll on her than I had originally thought. Nevertheless, she looked resolute, even though she knew only death awaited her at the hands of the Death Eaters. Giving her a nod of approval, a gracious smile comes to her face, knowing that I would do my duty. Turning to face the portal, I step through with a defiant thought on my mind.

_"I will defeat you, Father, and defy my fate as your tool."_

* * *

Not much to say on this chapter, really. I could have done a better job, but I'm proud of and happy with it for now. I'll probably come back later to do a rewrite but for now, it will work.

Next chapter, it's going to be mostly dreams of Aindrias's while he sleeps through the trip to Ylisse. That's when the spoiler alert premonition will occur with another important one with it. If you enjoyed this story and would like to follow it, please follow or favorite it, and leave a review if you spotted anything of note that I need to fix. Just a quick reminder though, Aindrias won't be using a wand, it was just to keep appearances in Harry's world nor will he use just his hands much. In the Awakening, that will prove too taxing on his powers most of the time while the want is tied to the magic of Harry's world only so it can't work in the other world.


	2. Chapter 2 Of Premonitions

Let me tell you guys why I'll be late on just about every update. I have three honors classes and a single elective (my school doesn't have any AP courses, so it's the closest thing to AP), starting with Geometry Honors, Bible History (No, it's not trying to shove religious dogma down your throat. It's discussing the events in the Bible and what is going on around the time of said events), Algebra 2 Honors, and English 2 Honors. Also, the Algebra class teacher actually does give us somewhere from two to four hundred questions over a week period (Thank you, deities, for making my teacher average the classes homework problems together and giving us bonus points based on that).

I'm not complaining about the schedule, I quite enjoy it actually. It's just that I'm probably only going to be able to write on the weekends if I do get to, so if I'm late on a update, don't worry. I just need some more time to finish my school work. I'm going to try to keep this a minimum of an update every two weeks.

* * *

The trip through the Outrealm portal has proven tiring. Along with the previous battle, the exhaustion of traveling through these was proving a tax on my bodily energy. The earlier influx of magic had proven to have only been momentary and now, I felt my eyes begin to droop. Trusting the portal to safely deliver me to my destination, I allowed my eyes to close and sleep's kind whispers seduced me into a deep slumber.

* * *

Fighting. It seems I'm fighting within a Gothic-styled castle. I cannot control my own muscles or magic, as if I was a puppet on strings. I can only watch as this dream of what I would later learn to be a possible future.

The warrior, face obscured from my eyes, fighting alongside me, built well and strong, making him taller by about one or two inches and more muscular as well, and oddly colored dark blue hair that contrasted my dark chocolate-like and curly hair and faster, slimmer physique, and I faced off against a man whose features were masked but his magic flew about with dark energy. The power from him saturated the air, however, unlike the Outrealm gate from before that almost suffocated me, my own magic were lashing out and engaging his with the roar of dragons filling our air from the clashes.

After several minutes of watching this battle of ours, my partner's strength and my spells began to overwhelm the dark magician, and soon, the battle had ended. As the man falls to his death and his magic begins to be released back into the world, Blue felt the need to look to me with a smiling face, obviously overjoyed. However, this was what our adversary had been waiting for, and he rises from the ground for one last blast at Blue. My body moves on it's own, pushing Blue out of the way and take the attack full force. Thankfully, my good fortune in life has not run out apparently as I lay disoriented on the ground.

Blue runs to my side and drops onto a single knee, asking of my well-being. I nod on instinct, able to ignore the pain in my side, and my friend smiles in relief. Lifting one arm over his shoulder and lifting me gingerly by way of a hand on back, Blue's effort allow me to glimpse the dead man only a few feet away and Blue states the obvious statement. But, as Blue brings me to my feet, I see a flash of red across my vision. My body begins to change controllers and the flashes continue repeatedly and picking up pace. I feel my arm swing and body shift as Blue asks if I'm okay. His face suddenly morphs into one of shock and disbelief, letting go of me and backing away to reveal that I had stabbed him in the abdomen with a Thoron spell. Instead of being angry with me and feeling betrayed, Blue speaks as if he had expected this to happen though with some difficulty , "This is no- not your fault. Promise me you'll escape from this place. Please, go."

With that, Blue loses all strength, with no time between dropping to his knees then to the floor, dead in a growing pool of his life. With that, the dream ends and another begins.

* * *

I find myself walking the halls of what appears to be a quite similar or even identical castle, but now it is day with the sun's life-giving rays flowing seamlessly through the relatively large arch windows. As I walk down the hall, men wearing khaki colored uniforms the style of the 1860s and 70s American military and carrying sabers and what appeared to be outdated repeating rifles of the same era as the uniforms went to attention and saluted me as if I was their leader. Giving simple nods to each as passed, I heard the shuffling of feet as they went back to a resting stance. Finally, I reached my destination, a oak wood door with two more soldiers on guard who both again saluted me. As I began to walk past them, one of the men grabbed the door and opened it for me, allowing the smell of a well maintained alchemy and potions lab to hit me full force. The simple smell of a potion used to cure the common cold delighted me greatly, but this room had more than a simple home remedy potion. Along the walls were several cabinet with clear glass doors that held a wide collection of mythical animal organs, rare floras, and worthwhile metals that were all used in the delicate crafting of elixirs of luck and death.

However, I ignored them all, instead heading for the occupants of said room. Three individuals, one an adult and the other two female child assistants who shuffled between tables to prepare ingredients, were hard at work making at what I gandered a guess of being a Blood-Replenishing Potion based on the visible ingredients and the smell emanating from the cauldron that the adult, a woman with jet black hair, was cutting up and dropping components into. Never speaking a word, I came from behind and hugged the woman, her reaction being to stiffen then relax as if I was her beloved. Laying down her knife and lovingly clasping my hands on her stomach with her own, I could feel the love that radiated from her, all for me it seemed. As she turned her head to smile warmly at me, I shut my eyes away and lay a gentle kiss of affection on her lips.

* * *

The dreams shifts again, and now, I stand upon a balcony, looking upon the city that surrounded it. My clothing, formerly a dusty white tunic and slacks with a rich purple cloak, had been replaced with robes of an unearthly gray and I held a simple wooden staff in my right hand. Just to my left and behind me, I could sense my love and the two girls from before standing happily while to my right and behind stood a man in a mage-like purple robe with white hair smiling away as if nothing could sadden him as we all looked upon the courtyard below the balcony and the masses that filled it.

Beyond the large town that held this courtyard central to it, I beheld ample fields of grain and orchards and savannah grasslands while beyond even that, on the far horizon, I could barely see the top of a sand dune. This city had grown outwards from this castle and courtyard, taming the land of harsh heat and soft sand. In my mind, I could only materialize one thought, _"This is my and my people's labor and the rewarding bounty of it."_ I looked down upon the people and their faces again. Each was an individual, none exactly the same but they all held a smile and gave my family, assistant, and me their full attention. Deciding to return their joy, I grinned widely and raise the staff into the air with a sharp thrust, and their reaction is instantaneous. A roar of delight and approval leaped from the crowd of thousands, all for me and my government's leadership.

I realized that these people saw me as their leader and trusted me with their lives. I promised myself that I would never betray their certainty of me and never lead them astray.

* * *

"Chrom, we have to do something." A worried female voice is what I awaken to as I lay on the hard ground. I can feel the soft grass of the plains on my skin, indicating that the journey from the other world was over and I needed to regain full awareness of my surroundings.

"Well, What do you propose we do?" A voice with more bass, most certainly male, questions the girl, as I open my eyes slowly and obtain a look at my observers. Opening my eyes wide, I note my observers. The first is a young girl, probably sixteen or seventeen at most, with sun-kissed blond hair, an equally or even greater yellow with white dress, and an odd piece of head dress that had many linked buttons, so in my mind, I decided she would be called Buttons till I learned her name. The other, a man around ninteen or twenty, wielded a head of a dark, midnight water-like blue hair, and wore an incomplete set of armor, missing the pauldron that would cover his left shoulder and what appeared to be a tattooed design. The similarity between the man and Blue from my dreams did not come to my mind, I being too tired at the moment to pay any more than a passing glance at his looks.

The duo now realize I'm awake and lean in to get a closer look at my awoken face. "I see you'll awake now," The man named Chrom voices with a smile. A little odd to smile right now in my opinion, as you could be standing over a murder with no defense, though at least he's trusting. The girl simply gives me, "Hey there," with a brief laugh and a smile on her face as well.

"There are better places to take a nap around, you know?" I now conclude that Chrom is going to be smart-alkyd at times. Oh, what fun that will be! Chrom holds out his hand to me, "Here, give me your hand." I accept the offer and take his with my right, with my mark showing on the back of my hand. I realize that this will be the start of a long friendship between them and me, and I am happy I will not be alone at the start of this journey now.

* * *

Sixteen thousand thirty four words of story right there, son! BOOM, BABY!

Ahem, sorry, I'm just happy I managed to write a decent length chapter within my set time goal. After three hours of work, I've finished this chapter and I'm now going to upload it at 9:42 PM. Thank you all for reading and hopefully enjoying this story. If you would like to follow, favorite, or review this story, please do so because it makes me happy. Don't worry though, I'm not going to set a required number of anything before I write the next chapter because it agitates me when authors do that. Really, my only constraints are work, time, and motivation, so you all shouldn't have to worry much.

I'll continue telling this tale to you guys later, so I hope you take care.


	3. Chapter 3 History's Beginnings Part 1

I'm going to test run some format change for this story in this chapter and the next . The first is including the title at the beginning and second will be changes in point of view to different individuals or omnipresent third person during battles. When you're done with the chapter and if you leave a review, tell me your opinion on both, especially the latter one because it will change the flow a bit at times.

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Chapter Two

History Begins Part One

* * *

"Y-yes... Thank you, Chrom."

Chrom gives me a queer look and asks, "Ah, then you know who I am?"

"No, you see, I heard Buttons there," I pause and point towards Buttons, "say your name and since you were the one who responded to her question..." I trail off as a throbbing sensation echoes in my head. Gods, this didn't bode well for any future experimentation with the gate's powers if it would leave me with such a painful impression. For that matter, where is the gate? Oh, don't tell me it just spit me out in a ransom location. There goes any ideas of inter-dimensional travel in one fell swoop.

While Buttons is fuming at the name, Chrom openly laughed, apparently enjoying my observation, "Tell me, what's your name? What brings you here?"

Good, proper introductions can be conduc-, wait, that means I need to avoid being a smart-ass. What was that the mantra Mother taught me, oh yes, don't stick your foot in your mouth or it might slide on down to your behind, "Aindrias Altman, Chrom, and the why part depends on where here actually is." Give them a friendly smile, don't give them any reason to hate you.

"You haven't heard the halidom of Ylisse?" Sorry, Chrom, only a few snippets of information on it. Mother mentioned it once or twice, usually in sadness as she remember a terrible conflict between it and Plegia.

"Sorry, but no. Apparently, I'm lost."

Now Chrom and Buttons are worried for me. Great, sympathy is always good, "Do you at least know where you're supposed to be heading?"

Time to lie a tiny bit, "No, not really. I remember my name, but that's about it." I rub the back of my head and glance down in false exasperation, hoping my acting would work well.

Buttons's face becomes serious as she declares, "Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia." Spot on if it was true, Buttons, have a cookie. Apparently, they're not completely backwards when it comes to minor mental illnesses.

A gruff voice, one that hadn't spoken yet, "It's called a load of pegasus dung." Holy _shit_, where did this man come from? How did this being, wearing a set of light blue and silver gray heavy armor on his already impressive stature, avoid my notice till now? "We're to believe you remember your name, but not your reasons for napping in a open field or even the halidom itself?" A nobleman's voice when coupled with rather expensive looking armor makes for a knight or a person of high birth. I believe if anyone's going to skewer me, it's going to be the man now named Noble, and with rather good reason.

"B-but it's the truth!"

"... What if it IS true, Frederick?" Thank you, Chrom, for arguing my case to the man who could probably break my spine with a light tackle. "We can't just leave him here, alone and confused." What sort of Shepherds would we be would be then?" Wait, shepherds? Who wears full body armor and rather fancy dresses while also carrying weapons when tending to sheep?

"Just the same, milord, I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock" Sound reasoning, thank you for ruining my day.

Chrom sees the logic and has now taken a more cautious stance, both physically and in his coming words, "Right then, we'll take him back to town and sort this out there." Great, now I'm being detained by a group of individuals who I suspect have a great deal of influence.

"I'm guessing I'm getting no choice?"

"Peace, friend, I promise we'll hear all you have to say back in town. Now come." Son of a wyvern...

* * *

Well, at least I'm not in handcuffs and I have some good company to talk to. Lissa had started out asking me several questions about my past, all of which I repeated the answer of being unable to recall many of my memories. Finally, I managed to get her to talk about Ylisse and she had been focused on the subject for the last two hours, telling me of peaceful life in the halidom and it's recent troubles with bandits crossing over from it's western neighbor, Plegia, and unknown creatures that looked and moved like humans but with no apparent conscious. I filed away the information on Plegia so I would have a general direction to avoid for awhile.

Chrom had earlier stated that once they had established I wasn't a threat to the state, though Frederick had again insulted me when he had unknowingly called me a fool. While I was hiding much away, I was telling the truth that I didn't know much of Ylisse so I decided to respond in kind by calling him a little slow for leaving a possible enemy unrestrained. He was actually shocked I had come up with that and looked as if he was seriously considering doing just that while the siblings only laughed. At least some people have humor still in them, though Lissa couldn't take being called delicate by her brother and pitched a, while short, funny little fit that involved throwing her arms into the air.

"So, you all tend sheep... in full armor? If so, where are the sheep because I only see Frederick's hor"

Chrom snorted, apparently finding my confusion humorous, "Heh, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here."

With a face of utter peace and order, Frederick spoke, "A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise."

After explaining that I understood his position, we continued on our path when Chrom decided to ask more on my name, "So. Aindrias Altman, correct? Is that foreign?"

I nodded as confirmation but after a moment's consideration added on, "Though the languages aren't widely spoken around here from what I understand."

"Really? I wonder how you came by it then?"

"Tis the given name my mother called me by and the birth name she held, so in her honor I go by it." The memories of her began to well now, and though I wished them away till I was alone or the others slept, they and the thoughts of her fate only grew in my mind. Ideas on how she could have maybe escaped the Death Eaters or defeated them, the recalling of an event thirteen years ago when I was five and Mother sang soft hymns to me while we rested in a small park in London. Her look of pride when I began to master a spell and her face of sadness when we needed to move again to avoid the authorities from finding and questioning us on our identities.

My sullen face seemed to give Chrom the idea that the subject of her was a sort of taboo, "... Ah, well, we can discuss it later. We're almost to town. Once we-"

From Lissa comes the cry of, "Chrom, look! The town!" Following her line of sight, we saw in the distance black smoke rises into the sky from what appeared to be buildings set alit. A large church built along the town waterways held two large openings in it's ceiling and walls, obviously caused from a spell of the Fire tome family.

Rage in his voice, Chrom exclaims, "Damn it, the town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt... Frederick, Li-" Chrom cuts himself off as I rush ahead, drawing my bronze sword and pulling a simple Thunder tome from within the folds of my jacket. Both rather simple weapons, but in my hands, they would make the town's attackers pay in blood for their crimes. However, shouting from Chrom causes me to momentarily pause and look back, "Wait, Aindrias, where are you going?"

Dear god, must I explain the simple details? With determination in my vocal chords, I yell, "I'm going to help the town! What do you think I'm going to do, sit back and watch this happen?" Not waiting for a response, I continue onwards undeterred as the others play catch up.

* * *

Garrick was having a swell time. Both he and his men were doing what they loved most, pillaging and burning. They were even payed for it now apparently. Sure, it was by dirty Plegians, but hey, gold was worth the same no matter who you showed it to.

Garrick holler with glee. It had been a great while he had been given such free reign over how much terror he caused, usually having to keep things intact and throats unslit while pressuring caravans to pay 'government' tolls to use the trade routes. Here, he could cut heads off and set as many villagers on fire as he and his men wanted to. His mage and second-in-command, Reilly, especially loved the part of not having to throttle the flames of his spells and took active part in the killings.

"Let loose, lads! Find anything shiny, and put the rest to the torch! We gots an example to set for these Yliessean types!" Garrick wouldn't normally bother himself with such details as specific as the directions that Aversa lady gave him, but she had only put a down payment on the job. If they came back successful, she said she would double the 10,000 gold pieces. With the haul they were pulling in already, they wouldn't need to do or take any shit for a long time after this.

"Hey, boss!" One of his many cohorts, a young black haired myrmidon bv the name of Oliver who had only recently joined with this being his introductory raiding part, yelled from the courtyard of the church that Garrick now stood in front of.

"What, kid, I'm busy trying to get this door to open up?"

Over the sounds of his ax busting through the large wooden double doors, Oliver's voice called out, "Some of the others saw some armed people running into town!"

Garrick growled, no doubt that the newcomers were either soldiers who had seen the smoke or a smaller group of brigands coming like vultures to strip the town's carcass. Nobody ruined Garrick's party, not town guards, not other brigands, and especially not soldiers. Turning his back on the church door for now, Garrick raised his ax in a rallying gesture and shouted, "Well, boys, let's give them a warm welcome shall we?" With a chorus of agreements, Garrick set off to meet his next victims.


End file.
